Thermal retrofitting for sustainable use of traditional dwellings in Mediterranean climate of southwestern Anatolia

Abstract

Thermal retrofitting implementations are crucial for safeguarding the functional sustainability of historical buildings as they can improve the thermal performance of these buildings while maintaining thermal comfort for their occupants. This study aims to examine the thermal behavior of a common historical building type in Anatolia / Turkey, the traditional houses with exterior hall (sofa), and to determine enhancement potentials of possible thermal interventions. Research method consists of on-site thermal measurements, laboratory analyses on traditional construction materials and transient thermal analyses utilizing simulations on DesignBuilder software. Study cases were selected from both urban and rural sub-settlements. The results demonstrated that the thermal insulation works within floor assemblies, airtightness measures, adding secondary glazing to windows and suggesting transparent circulation corridors provide significant energy improvements. These interventions would save 26.5% of building energy consumption in the urban and 30.4% in the rural sub-settlements when applied together. Furthermore, when the integration of a modern HVAC system, ground-source heat pump is implemented, these improvement rates can be increased to more than 60%. Consequently, it was determined that the cases have significant potentials for thermal enhancements which renders the application of thermal interventions as a capable conservation tool.